The present invention relates to the new and distinct cultivar of Hosta, botanically known as Hosta sieboldiana (Lodd.) Engl., and hereinafter referred to as the cultivar ‘Eskimo Pie’.
The new plant was discovered by the inventor, Clarence H. Falstad, III, as a non-induced, naturally occurring whole plant mutation of Hosta ‘Northern Exposure’ (not patented) in a plant tissue culture laboratory at a nursery in Zeeland, Mich., USA. Asexual propagation of the plant at the same nursery by tissue culture and division has shown that the unique and distinct characteristics of this new plant are stable and reproduce true to type in successive generations.
Hosta ‘Northern Exposure’ is a sport of Hosta sieboldiana ‘Elegans’ (not patented). ‘Elegans’ is a large plant with glaucous rugose leaves. Hosta ‘Northern Exposure’ has a wide creamy-colored leaf margin and a blue-green glaucous center. ‘Eskimo Pie’ has the same cream-colored center as the leaf margin of ‘Northern Exposure’ and the same blue-green margin as the leaf center of ‘Northern Exposure’; a reverse pattern.
The most similar varieties in pattern are ‘Dream Weaver’ (not patented), ‘Great Expectations’ (not patented) and ‘Thunderbolt’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 14,232). All three cultivars differ from ‘Eskimo Pie’ in having leaf centers that are more yellowish-green in the spring, and stay more yellow than ‘Eskimo Pie’ through the summer under identical growing conditions. ‘Dream Weaver’, a sport of ‘Great Expectations’ (which is a sport of ‘Elegans’), and ‘Thunderbolt’, a sport of ‘Elegans’, appear nearly identical to each other. Both ‘Dream Weaver’ and ‘Thunderbolt’ have a much wider margin than either ‘Great Expectations’ or ‘Eskimo Pie’, and they retain the same heavier yellowish pigment to the leaf center of ‘Great Expectations’.